1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to inspection and packaging of photographic prints and negatives. More specifically, the present invention is concerned with integrating normally separate operations by utilizing data generated during photographic printing for correlating negatives and prints during inspection and packaging. Moreover, the preparation of make-over prints in place of nonconforming prints is facilitated by automatically generating instructions for correcting the nonconformity at a make-over printing operation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally speaking, it has been customary to separate the inspection of photographic prints from operations involving the cutting, sorting and packaging of the prints. To achieve full roll inspection, the prints on the uncut developed paper web roll are unreeled from a take-off spindle, past an inspection station and back into roll form upon a take-up spindle. The inspector, positioned at the inspection station, observes the passing prints for out of standard conditions--such as objectionable color or density effects, blank frames, blurred or otherproblems causing displeasing pictures. The prints are marked for the type of problem with, e.g., a marking pen. Prints having color or density problems are identified for subsequent correction while the other prints are marked for discarding only. Sometimes described as `unprintable`, the latter prints possess displeasing defects that the photofinisher cannot correct, e.g., extreme over- and under-exposure, blank frames, blurred scenes caused by camera movement, etc.
The inspected roll is next queued into a completely separate cutting, sorting and packaging workplace. Here, an operator--or automatic sensors--observe the markings and segregate the orders with marked prints for separate handling. `Unprintable` prints are simply discarded. The `passed` orders, i.e., those with unmarked prints, are cut, assembled and packed up for shipping. Make-over orders, i.e., those prints marked with correctible problems, are gathered together and sent back for printing of the negatives that produced the problem prints, this time taking the suggested corrections into account.
A typical finishing work center of the above type is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,718,807. An automatic print cutter and sorter cuts and sorts prints (supplied in roll form) until an order sort mark is sensed on the last print of a customer's order. Then the print cutter stops. Simultaneously, an automatic film cutter and stacker cuts and stacks the negative roll film into filmstrips (each filmstrip having three to five negative frames) until the splice is sensed between customer orders. Then the film cutter stops. If all the prints are acceptable, the operator gathers the prints and negative filmstrips, stuffs them into respective pockets of an envelope and routes the envelope for shipping. Unacceptable prints are marked with dull, light-absorbing marks placed upon them by a print inspector in a prior operation (e.g., full roll inspection). Sensors on the finishing work center sense these marks and cause the marked prints to be shunted aside for separate handling by the operator. Simultaneously, a filmstrip correlator illuminates a number indicating the filmstrip (of the four or five in the customer's order) that contains the negative frame from which the marked print was made. The correlator bases its decision on the number of chopped prints from the beginning of the customer's order. Since it has no prior knowledge of the negative frame numbers, it can resolve negative identity only to the point of estimating the film strip--not the frame--from which the `marked` print was made. If several negatives were skipped by the printer, the correlator will have no way of knowing this and will signal the wrong film-strip.
In some professional-grade photofinishing operations, sophisticated customer expectations dictate a high frequency of make-overs since quality level is crucial to professional needs. To centralize and control quality, such photofinishers are known to integrate inspection and packaging in one manual workplace; in effect productivity tends to give way to a higher level of assurance that problems are being detected and correctly diagnosed. Careful inspection tends to slow overall packaging output since each nonconforming print (which the inspector sees) must be associated with its corresponding negative to derive identifying information. This is done by visually scanning the negative image--as by holding the negative strip up to light--and matching the nonconforming print with the correct negative. Once the negative is located, the operator notes the frame number and corrections on an auxiliary sheet of paper that accompanies the order back to the printer for making over.
Besides manually transcribing the print corrections, there are other methods for preparing selected prints for reprinting or remaking. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,008,962 describes a record-keeping system for a grahic arts printer. Manually adjusted parameters (e.g., amount of colored material to be transferred to the copy) for making the color print are automatically punched into a data processing card when the original print is made. The card may then be used to set up the printer later on for exact copy reprints. However, this system does not provide for correction of the original print. U.S. Pat. No. 3,454,336 applies like concepts to a photographic printer where make-over correction is desirable. During the initial pass through printing, the color printer transfers a customer code number and negative serial number to each color print. Then, when a nonconforming print is detected during inspection, the inspector enters the code number, the serial number and the proper correction into a correction tape. The tape automatically directs a printer to skip the good frames and remake the negatives that yielded the nonconforming prints. While automating the make-over printer, the foregoing apparatus remains dependent on the manual transcription of data at inspection from the print to the correction tape. Moreover, the amount of information carried from printing is dependent upon how much printer `clutter` may be tolerated on the customer print.
Available inspection methods and apparatus have been unable to resolve the exact identity of a negative frame without human intervention to directly determine the negative, either by manually comparing a strip of negatives with selected prints or by reading a serial number on the back of the prints. If the inspection and packaging apparatus were to know precisely what the printer has done with each negative, greater reliability in matching negatives-to-prints would be possible. Moreover, the instructions for the make-over printer could be automatically generated from the printer data with only the addition of corrections. Tedious matching of prints with negatives--or the verification of tentative matches--could be entirely eliminated. It is to these ends that the present invention is addressed.